Deadly Police Shooting of Homeless Man Justified: DA

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Lancaster County's top prosecutor says a police officer was justified in fatally shooting a homeless man who lunged at him with a knife.

Investigators say it happened as the officer was responding to a report of a man urinating in public in Lancaster earlier this month. Police say 35-year-old Gregory Stephen Bayne was shot after pulling a knife as the officer checked his identification. Police say he was given chances to drop his weapon.

District Attorney Craig Stedman announced Friday the shooting was justified and he wouldn't prosecute the officer, identified as Jose De La Torre. He says it would have been “beyond irresponsible” to let an agitated homeless man with a knife to escape into the public.

He says it would have been “equally absurd” for the officer to have tried to wrestle the knife away.